Monday, August 30, 2004
Dancing like Nobody's Watching
Reflections on Star's birthday party...
Not that we haven't noticed this before, but this group of mostly underexercised urbanites always seems to thrive when subjected to intense physical activity. Says something about sociobiology, sure, but more importantly it's a big help in our evolving sense of how best to live our own very specific lives. The dancing on Saturday is obviously what prompts this thought, but Sunfall, lasertag, and good old midnight tag shine out to me as examples of a similar experience - bonding by exertion.
As lessons go, it cuts a layer deeper than "go get some exercise, silly," because of the social element involved. A big part of the payoff, the joy (in the Spider Robinson distinction sense) of all of these activities, seems to revolve around how it takes an already close-knit group of friends and tends to lower barriers - ego barriers, the walls between us and childish wildness, as well as lots of similar impediments which I can sense but not presently name.
I have to wonder whether a group of, say, roughnecks and roadies, might not derive the same kind of contrasting joy from sitting down to work through a crossword puzzle or play Scrabble together. How much of the high is contrast, how much is sociobiology and the demands of neglected muscles? Chalk another one up to the unanswerable questions list.
Regardless, I'd bet that this social element is part of why those of us with physical pastimes not much echoed by the gang (my fencing hobby being a case in point) tend to lag in them and end up slacking, while when you can get a bunch of us onto the bandwagon do tend to reinforce each other. Add this on top of peer pressure and the like; nice to be part of a group that cements its bonds through the joy of pain.
We call it masochism, but this is mockery concealing truth; really, masochism is a sexual oddity, it's tied to pleasure, not joy. One wonders why we have a word for the one, and not the other...
Not that we haven't noticed this before, but this group of mostly underexercised urbanites always seems to thrive when subjected to intense physical activity. Says something about sociobiology, sure, but more importantly it's a big help in our evolving sense of how best to live our own very specific lives. The dancing on Saturday is obviously what prompts this thought, but Sunfall, lasertag, and good old midnight tag shine out to me as examples of a similar experience - bonding by exertion.
As lessons go, it cuts a layer deeper than "go get some exercise, silly," because of the social element involved. A big part of the payoff, the joy (in the Spider Robinson distinction sense) of all of these activities, seems to revolve around how it takes an already close-knit group of friends and tends to lower barriers - ego barriers, the walls between us and childish wildness, as well as lots of similar impediments which I can sense but not presently name.
I have to wonder whether a group of, say, roughnecks and roadies, might not derive the same kind of contrasting joy from sitting down to work through a crossword puzzle or play Scrabble together. How much of the high is contrast, how much is sociobiology and the demands of neglected muscles? Chalk another one up to the unanswerable questions list.
Regardless, I'd bet that this social element is part of why those of us with physical pastimes not much echoed by the gang (my fencing hobby being a case in point) tend to lag in them and end up slacking, while when you can get a bunch of us onto the bandwagon do tend to reinforce each other. Add this on top of peer pressure and the like; nice to be part of a group that cements its bonds through the joy of pain.
We call it masochism, but this is mockery concealing truth; really, masochism is a sexual oddity, it's tied to pleasure, not joy. One wonders why we have a word for the one, and not the other...
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